Friendsgiving: Grapefruit-Apricot-Cranberry Sauce

Friendsgiving is a Thanksgiving meal celebrated with friends. Kelly & Gilbert have been hosting a Friendsgiving for a number of years. They weren’t going to hold one last year since they were temporarily living with Eric & I. With an appeal to Kelly’s sense of obligation for my blog (it was originally her idea for me to start a food blog, after all!) and my continual need for taste-testers, I convinced them to not only hold their annual event, but to also let me experiment on their friends! Kelly is like Eric & prefers tried & true recipes on the holidays. Gilbert leans towards my way of thinking and likes to put a twist on the classics. Since this was Friendsgiving, they acquiesced and allowed me to try out a few new versions of traditional Thanksgiving fare on their friends. After all, their guests would still get to enjoy their traditional Thanksgiving dinners with their own families after Friendsgiving.

The experiment consisted of a twist on 3 different Thanksgiving classics. This Grapefruit-Apricot-Cranberry Sauce was the most popular of the trial recipes.

Grapefruit-Apricot-Cranberry Sauce

Grapefruit-Apricot-Cranberry Relish (adapted from realsimple.com) Makes 3 cups, Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups (14 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
  •  1 1/2 cups grapefruit juice
  •  1 1/2 cups sugar
  •  1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) dried apricots, chopped
  •  1/4 cup golden raisins

Directions:

Combine the cranberries, grapefruit juice. sugar, orange juice and rosemary with ½ cup of water in a large saucepan. Bring it all to a boil.

Cook the cranberries.

Bring the mixture to a boil.

Cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring continually, until just thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the apricots and raisins and cook until they are softened, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the raisins and apricots.

Transfer the relish to a serving bowl. Cool it to room temperature, then chill it. Serve at room temperature with a garnish of a few additional raisins and sliced apricots.

Serve this at room temperature.

New twists on traditions keep the holidays exciting!  ~Linda

Grapefruit-Apricot-Cranberry Relish (adapted from realsimple.com) Makes 3 cups, Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups (14 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
  •  1 1/2 cups grapefruit juice
  •  1 1/2 cups sugar
  •  1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) dried apricots, chopped
  •  1/4 cup golden raisins

Directions:

Combine the cranberries, grapefruit juice. sugar, orange juice and rosemary with ½ cup of water in a large saucepan. Bring it all to a boil.

Cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring continually, until just thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the apricots and raisins and cook until they are softened, about 2 minutes.

Transfer the relish to a serving bowl. Cool it to room temperature, then chill it. Serve at room temperature with a garnish of a few additional raisins and sliced apricots.